Saturday, Jan. 5: Santee

The New Frontier Lounge

After living and traveling in Europe for the past year or so, singer-songwriter Heater Loepp has finally made her return to Washington. As the frontwoman for indie folk-pop outfit Santee, she started turning heads with her intimate lyrics, endearingly scratchy vocals and the warm bed of instrumentation provided by the rest of the band, which now includes Joel Myers and Conor Sisk from the Speedwobbles, and Spencer Kelley from Basemint. Word is that Santee is in the Swoon Records studio working on their long-awaited debut LP. It'll be about time for a band that has garnered as much good will as Santee has. In the meantime, their return to Tacoma is bound to be a joyous homecoming, full of drunken group hugs and even drunker dancing.